The Ongoing Battle for Mosul

A month ago, thousands of Iraqi and Kurdish troops, supported by the United States, France, and Britain, began a massive operation to retake Iraq's second largest city of Mosul from ISIS militants. Thousands of bombs have been dropped by coalition aircraft over the past few weeks, as ground forces move from village to village, house to house, advancing on central Mosul. ISIS fighters have put up strong resistance, setting fire to oil reserves, killing some civilians and using others as human shields, while thousands of refugee families continue to flee the violence. While progress is being made by Iraqi forces toward surrounding and recapturing Mosul, the campaign may drag on for many more weeks or months.

A fighter from the Nineveh Plain Protection Units (NPU) walks through a destroyed church on November 8, 2016 in Qaraqosh, Iraq. The NPU is a military organization made up of Assyrian Christians and was formed in late 2014 to defend against ISIS. Qaraqosh, a largely Assyrian City just 32km southeast of Mosul was taken by ISIS in August of 2014 forcing all residents to flee, the town was largely destroyed with all of the churches burned or heavily damaged. The town stayed under ISIS control until the previous week when it was liberated during the Mosul Offensive.#

Sergeant Majid holds a rocket propelled grenade as his Humvee approaches the neighborhood of Tahrir and Zahara, formerly named after Saddam Hussein, on the north eastern edge of Mosul, on November 4th, 2016, in Mosul, Iraq.#

In this photo taken on November 9, 2016, firefighters rest after trying to extinguish burning oil wells in Qayara, some 50 kilometers south of Mosul, Iraq. When Iraqi forces drove Islamic State militants from the town of Qayara in August, it was hailed as an early triumph over extremists. But the government has failed to restore lost services, violent revenge attacks persist, and some residents are bitter and angry.#

Iraqi army soldiers look at a tunneling machine that was used by ISIS militants, at a newly liberated Iraqi base, in Keramlis village, less than 18 miles (29 kilometers) southeast of Mosul, Iraq, on November 13, 2016.#

Two suspected ISIS fighters found hiding in a house as they were pushing through the eastern Samah area and into the Arbagiah neighborhood of Mosul are seen on November 11, 2016 during an offensive by the Iraqi Special Forces 2nd division.#

A Shiite fighter from the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) patrols in the village of Ayn Nasir, south of Mosul, on October 29, 2016, after recapturing it from ISIS in an ongoing operation to retake the city of Mosul.#

A member of Iraqi forces gives juice to a child in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul, on October 28, 2016 after troops recaptured it from ISIS jihadists as part of their operation to retake the main hub city of Mosul.#

A Kurdish girl wears her relative's assault rifle and ammunition belt as she waits at the Iraqi Kurdish Shaqouli checkpoint, some 35 kilometers east of Mosul, on November 10, 2016. Since the start of the Mosul offensive the Kurds have moved their border some 10 km closer to Iraq's second city, marking it out with a line in the sand.#

Members of Iraqi forces react as they watch Donald Trump giving a speech after he won the US president elections in the village of Arbid on the southern outskirts of Mosul on November 9, 2016, as they rest in a house during the ongoing military operation to retake Mosul from ISIS. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi congratulated Donald Trump on his election as president and said he hoped for continued US and international support in the war against jihadists.#

An Iraqi Christian soldier from the Nineveh Plain Protection Unit fixes the bell of the St. Addai church, which was damaged by Islamic State fighters during their occupation of Keramlis village, less than 18 miles (29 kilometers) southeast of Mosul, Iraq, on November 13, 2016. There were gasps, and then tears, at the small church in northern Iraq as a group of Christians returned to their parish to find everything had been destroyed, including the statue of the Virgin Mary which ISIS militants decapitated before they left. The church bell tolled for the first time in more than two years, but few can summon up hope for the future.#

A picture taken on November 15, 2016, shows destruction caused by ISIS at the archaeological site of Nimrud, some 30 kilometers south of Mosul in the Nineveh province, a few days after Iraqi forces retook the ancient city.#

Iraqi families who were displaced by the ongoing operation by Iraqi forces against jihadists of the ISIS group to retake the city of Mosul, are seen gathering in an area near Qayyarah on October 28, 2016.#

A newly-displaced Iraqi woman who fled from the city of Mosul, kisses a child's hand as she is reunited with her relatives who came two years ago to the refugee camp in the Khazir area, near near the Kurdish checkpoint of Aksi Kalak, some 40 kilometers east of Arbil following their arrival on October 26, 2016.#

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